It's Time to Save a Little Time

It's Time to Save a Little Time

Why do you hear this constantly: “It’s never too early and it’s always too late”?

Just once I’d like to find out what exactly it takes to hit the perfect balance between the two. But I can’t afford to wait for that.

We are always running extra hard trying to make up for the one thing we never have enough of, and that would be this: Time. Look at how inefficiently business people manage time:

--Nine out of 10 people spend up to two hours a day chatting; and 75 percent of people spend up to two hours a day on social media sites.

--Nine out of 10 people procrastinate.

--Thirty-three percent of people spend between one and two hours per day reading email; and 80 percent spend more than two hours per day surfing the Web.

That’s based on a report from OfficeTime.net, which listed five more too. But we don’t have time for them right now.

So what to do? I have some quick thoughts on that.

--Instill a rule that says Monday morning water coolers chatting can last more than five minutes only if the home team wins (doesn’t matter the sport.) If we have a win, it’s good for morale. If we don’t, it saves time. No way to lose on this one.

--Sit up straight. Not only is it good for your career not to look like a slouch, it’s good for you ergonomically speaking, too. You’ll be more efficient if comfortable and healthy.

--Schedule your meetings back to back to back to back. The little time we leave between most of our meetings is never enough to get anything useful done. If your meetings end and the day is nearly done, you’ll know you are going to too many meetings.

--Schedule a very late lunch. Often, you’ll come up for air, look at the clock and realize it’s not that far away from dinner time. Why eat now? You’ll work straight though lunch without even knowing it. Save some calories, too.

--Take care of your most important work first thing and get it done early. That way, you won’t feel guilty when you finish the day with an important client on the golf course.

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